C.H.A.O.S.

The Dirty Details:

There isn't a lot we can do to summarize Elon Musk easily here, so I'm going to attempt to focus on a number of interesting facts related to Musk and his future work for the US Government.

First off: Musk didn't fall into the alt-right pipeline until recently, and had as recently as 2016 supported Universal Basic Income, and also claimed to be a socialist in a 2018 tweet.

He also supports H1B visas along with his DOGE counterpart Vivek Ramaswamy. This is contrary to the traditional MAGA position that immigration in almost any form - especially that which "takes jobs from hard working Americans" - is a bad thing. He got into a rather heated debate with Laura Loomer over this, and even managed to get Trump to fall on his side of the argument.

Another interesting thing to note about Musk is his drug use: He's actually been in some hot water over both that and his contact with foreign nationals, limiting his available security clearance (which he's needed for his work with SpaceX government contracts). This is bound to become an even greater issue with his work with the Trump administration.

It should also be noted that Musk & Vivek will not be actual employees in the government in the traditional sense, but will act as advisors to the administration.

The plain is to "dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies", claiming to cut as much as $2 trillion from government spending, although economic experts and fiscal hawks believe this to be unachieveable (at least not without significant cuts to critical "3rd rail" programs).

A good source for information regarding Musk and his past can be found in the Behind the Bastards podcast Musk episode.

Oh, he's also become - quite literally - pro-fascist.

Photo by Debbie Rowe

The Dirty Details:

VIvek was Elon Musk's counterpart in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and is almost as interesting as Musk himself (in the way that train wrecks or giant dumpster fires are interesting, at least).

As it pertains to his work for the Trump administration, he's actually much further to the right than Elon; He has expressed desires to eliminate multiple government agencies (including the Education Dept., FBI, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and more). He's also staunchly anti-union - at least as it pertains to government employment - and wants to revoke Kennedy's Order 10988, which gives federal employees the right to collectively bargain.

He also - amusingly enough - wants to end birthright citizenship.

Like Musk, he's pushed a lot of conspiracy theories. Some of these include that the January 6 attacks were an "inside job", believes that the Great Replacement conspiracy theory is real (in that Democrats want to replace white Christian Americans with immigrants), and even has some interesting beliefs regarding 9/11.

One extremely fascinating controversy came with the heated debate with MAGA-conservative Laura Loomer, claiming that - essentially - Americans aren't smart enough for tech jobs, so we need more H1B Visa holders. His actual words were 'American culture "has venerated mediocrity over excellence," leading to a nation that does "not produce the best engineers."'

Photo by Gage Skidmore

The Dirty Details:

Tom Homan has served multiple administrations as someone working to "fight" against illegal immigration.. Including the Obama administration (that's right: Contrary to popular right-wing talking points, Democrats deport a LOT of immigrants.. In some cases more than Republicans), which awarded him with the Presidential Rank Award for his work.

While working for ICE in the Obama administration, he argued that separating children from their caregivers would be an effective means of discouraging illegal border crossings. This philosophy was carried over to his work in the Trump administration, but has recently started advocating against separating families.

His overall position on immigration is couched in language about protecting both Americans and immigrants; Preventing terrorists from coming to America on one side, while also keeping immigrant women and children from being raped and murdered by those assisting them to illegally enter the U.S. Overall, these are the standard talking points for most folks who have a "zero-tolerance" policy for immigrants who enter and stay in the U.S. illegally.

While he has presented himself as a more rational sort on the immigration debate, his contributions to Project 2025 and overall language in regards to his upcoming position makes things a little more murky, so we'll have to wait and see what specific actions he performs in his new role. Given Trump's more extreme rhetoric (not to mention Vance's "Immigrants are eating peoples' pets" diatribe), this could be a contentious position.

The Dirty Details:

Mike Waltz is an interesting one from an outsider's perspective; His experience in the military leads him to be a fairly reasonable choice in regards to being a national security advisor, and is fairly hawkish in regards to China, which is not an unreasonable position in from most perspectives.

He is, however, a Trump loyalist, which is (according to Trump) the most important qualification for any position within the Trump administration. He advocated for the overturning of the 2020 election, voted against the formation fo the Jan. 6 commission, and in general follows a lot of the talking points Trump pushes forward (although he pushes out with actual policy action, rather than just talk).

He is (somewhat) opposed to providing additional aid to Ukraine, however, which is contrary to what most established and trusted folks in military & national security push for.

What's more interesting is that he - along with Dan Crenshaw - introduced a bill to authorize the US military to engage with cartels in Mexico.

In regards to LGBTQ+ rights, he did vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would legally protect the rights for same-sex marriage federally.

The Dirty Details:

Kevin Hassett is an old-hand at Republican politics; he advised presidential candidates as far back as John McCain's 2000 campaign, and has continued to be an operative in the economic advisory space in politics since.

That doesn't necessarily make him GOOD at the job, but he has managed to align with Republican policy well over the years.

As an example, he was the co-author of the book Dow 36,000, and predicted that the stock market would have a massive swing upward by 2004.

In reality, however, there was a rather sharp downturn thanks to the Dot Com Bubble bursting, and the 36,000 prediction wasn't reached until late 2021.

He also advised Trump on the tail end of his presidency's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and claimed that COVID deaths would drop to near zero by 2020.. So it was time to open things back up.

Unfortunately, folks were still dying by large numbers at that time, and the model he created was contrary to what most respectable experts believed (and had proven) to be true.

It would seem he, Musk, and Vivek also have one thing in common - they are (in a limited sense) pro-immigration as a method for spurring economic growth.

The Dirty Details:

Macro Rubio is one of the more "traditional" right-wing Republicans in Trump's cabinet; He holds classic views on subjects like immigration, the economy, healthcare, social issues, and more.

He's coming into his cabinet position directly from his US Senate Seat (Florida, of course), and is widely considered a highly conservative political operative (the American Conservative Union gave him a rating of 98.67 in 2015).

Overall, there isn't a whole lot of interesting things to note about Rubio; he's your traditional Tea Party Republican, without much standing out, which relatively speaking makes him one of the milder candidates in Trump's cabinet, and also one of the more qualified in regards to his position as Secretary of State (although that doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be good at it, but that's besides the point).

The Dirty Details:

Oh boy, here we go. This one is controversial.. Even for Republicans.

First off: He has never held any political office, and his only governmental experience is serving in the military (as an infantry officer in the National Guard), reaching the rank of Major. Otherwise, he's done some work in a conservative think-tank, market analysis, running as a candidate for senate (although never even making it to the Republican primary), and.. as a Fox News host.

When Trump announced his intention to bring the Hegseth into the cabinet, Trump's transition team received a memo regarding a possible sexual assault commited by Hegseth.

While he's not the only one in the cabinet (well, of course, let's not forget Trump was found liable in a civil case for it as well), there has been a lot of general discomfort with the Republican party about his appointment - especially in regards to the Sec Def position - given the rather significant issue of sexual assault in the military.

Overall, Hegseth is pretty well known to be abusive towards women, and was even confronted about the issue by his own mother, saying "You are an abuser of women – that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth ... It's time for a someone (I wish it was a strong man) to stand up to your abusive behavior and call it out, especially against women."

Photo by Gage Skidmore

The Dirty Details:

Though the list is small, we have another appointment here that actually has some credentials that could make them a decent pick for the cabinet position.

Pam Bondi served as the attorney general for the state of Florida, so hitting the federal level actually makes sense. Her general political leanings are pro-Trump, but not quite so frothing-at-the-mouth that she hasn't won the support of more traditional Republicans.

There was some relatively minor controversy when she received a donation to her re-election campaign from Trump before a supposed investigation was going to take place in regards to Trump Unversity (Pam claims the donation had no impact in her decision to investigate or not).

Additionally, there are some casual links with Scientology.. Which is never a good thing. While she herself doesn't appear to directly support the cult, she has spoken to related organizations in the past.

Aside from that, there's the more common questions of ethical decisions related to her work as Florida's attorney general, including shutting down investigations as part of an alleged quid-pro-quo, as well as pushing to move an execution date so it didn't conflict with a fundraising event.

Pam Is actually Trump's second choice, but his first (Matt Gaetz) was widely considered much too controversial, so I gues she can celebrate the fact that she's a silver medalist in that regard.

The Dirty Details:

Here's another low-controversy pick, and for a fairly prominent position within Trump's cabinet.

Doug Burgum overall has been pretty well-liked in his political career, not making any significant waves. His last election for the Governor of North Dakota (in 2020) saw him win with 65% of the vote.

While he doesn't discount climate issues as a whole, he did join other Republicans in an threat to sue Minnesota for their law that would require the state's electricity to come from non-carbon-dioxide-producing sources.

Like most Republicans, he supports the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. He did, however, state that he would not support a national abortion ban, and instead stated his policy is that it should be up to the states to determine policy. As governor he did sign a near-total abortion ban for North Dakota.

He was also a potential pick for Trump's VP, which is surprising, but lost out to the more extreme(ly weird) Vance.

In general, he's pretty traditional in the Republican sphere on nearly all major issues, although he has tended to lean towards avoiding "culture war" issues, including LGBTQ+ policies. North Dakota did send him a veto-proof bill creating a near-total ban on gender-affirming care for minors, which he signed, and did waffle a bit on position.. Basically saying we need to protect children, but the science does stand in opposition to the bill. Essentially, the political equivalent of a shrug.

He did veto an earlier trans athlete ban, but that was later passed through legislature with a veto-proof majority.

The Dirty Details:

I just.. I can't even fathom this one.

There are so many issues with RFK Jr. that I don't even know where to begin. Even selecting a handful of unique "features" of this appointment was a challenge. It is just INSANE how bad this choice is for America.

RFK Jr. has absolutely ZERO experience in the healthcare industry, which is somewhat important given he's appointed to Health and Human Services.

Forbes has a rather concise list of RFK Jr's controversial statements, but I'd like to list a few here.

He claimed Dr. Anthony Fauci And Bill Gates exaggurated the pandemic to promote vaccinations. He said COVID-19 targets 'Caucasions and Black People'. He believes wireless tech causes cancer. He said there is no evidence that AIDs is caused by HIV. He's staunchly opposed to flouride (as if dental healthcare isn't expensive enough as-is). He believes the CIA was involved in the Kennedy assassination.

There's more.. A lot more. Most frightening as of publishing this, however, is that he wants to revoke approval for the Polio vaccine.

This man should not be anywhere near any authority.. Especially in regards to healthcare. We can only hope that he's not confirmed (or pisses off Trump enough to be fired immediately), and I can remove him from this list.

Photo by Gage Skidmore

The Dirty Details:

Joy of joys, this doctor actually has fairly decent qualifications for the position he's appointed to!

Dr. Marty Makary has very little controversy attached to his name; He had some mildly contrarian opinions during the early COVID-19 pandemic, but by-and-large advocated for genuine, science-based remedies.. Except towards the tail end of it.

He was opposed to vaccine boosters, and claimed that the modern COVID variants was "nature's vaccine". He claimed there was a lack of evidence that boosters had any effect (when in all actuality there was plenty of evidence at the time that the boosters were effective). He pushed for the "herd immunity" idea, which when applied to vaccines is legitimate.. But when applied to intentional infections, actually isn't that great of an idea (since it gives a virus more opportunities to mutate and spread to vulnerable populations - the more you know!).

Additionally, on that same podcast, he claimed his preferred pronoun was "Unboosted male", so that gives a not-so-subtle indication as to his gender identity politics.

The Dirty Details:

Oof.

Ok, as a vet and someone who has had a successful political career, heading the VA isn't a horrible position for Doug Collins to occupy.

His position on abortions, however, are less than ideal. Of course, you may be wondering what that has to do with the VA, right?

There are female veterans who rely on VA benefits.. Including VA healthcare. Reproductive healthcare is, well.. Healthcare. Not as complex as a 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon connection, that's for sure.

Additionally, Doug Collins is a climate change denier, opposes same-sex marriage (including wanting federal legislation defining marriage between one man and one woman), claimed that Democrats were "in love with terrorists" (and later retracting that statement after Tammy Duckworth, a fellow Iraq War Vet and democrat called him out on it), and more.

He also tends to follow the conservative playbook on immigration in general.

The Dirty Details:

Kristi Noem was the first female governor of South Dakota.

There, that's at least one positive thing about her.

She's one of the many folks who claim Trump was the real victor in the 2020 election.

She's also the one who shot her 14-month old dog because she believed it was untrainable as a hunting dog, later claiming she feared for her children (hint: You can surrender dogs to places called animal shelters).

Oh, she also killed a goat she didn't like at the same time, and left it wounded and suffering until she could head back to her truck to reload and finish the job.

She was banned from tribal lands in her own home state for claiming that they were infiltrated by drug cartels.. “We’ve got some tribal leaders that I believe are personally benefiting from the cartels being there, and that’s why they attack me every day,” - her actual words.

Oh, and she co-sponsored legislation that would federally ban abortion while she served in congress.

Seriously, there is way more than I can cover here about why Kristi Noem is such an awful choice, so I'll just link to her Wikipedia at this point.

The Dirty Details:

Sean Duffy is an interesting face in Republican politics.. And not necessarily in a good way.

Aside from his stint in reality TV (The Real World? Really? C'mon), it's his political career that is more interesting.

He fought against better pay for federal workers, however when he was asked if he would cut his own salary, he said he'd only do it as part of a general round of salary cuts for government employees (and also claimed that he was "struggling" despite making 3x the average salary for WI residents).

Overall, he's otherwise followed the traditional talking points. He's anti-immigration, and also supportive of Trump's rather dangerous tariff strategy; In July 2018, Duffy accused Europe, China, Canada and Mexico of "economic terrorism" since they enacted their own tariffs in response to Trump's tariffs (an irony that should not be lost on anyone).

Overall, he's among the crowd of neo-fiscal-conservatives who promote the false narrative on import tariffs being something that'll only harm the source countries, rather than the US businesses and individuals importing the products.

The Dirty Details:

It wouldn't be a Trump cabinet without an oil industry leader taking the reigns in the Department of Energy, and Chris Wright is a notable one.

He's been a part of the classic party line of "Drill baby drill", pushing hard against climate change, renewable energy, and more. Given his economic success up to now has been tied to that very ideal, it's no surprise.

Another classic Republican song Wright sings is that just about anything good more left-leaning folks do is "communism". I don't think most Republicans actually know what communism is, but just like saying the word. I see it more as the conservative version of the "Penis" game, where each person successfully says "communism" louder and louder in public until they get told to stop (although they never will).

His argument against regulation of greenhouse gases and disclosure of emissions was an interesting one: He clamed that "Millions of lives had been saved by reducing cold-related deaths", thanks to rising global temperatures. I am not even kidding here. He actually said extreme cold is far more deadly than extreme heat (of course, he seems to ignore the effects on crops, migration patterns of animals and the ability for folks to even work outside safely as an issue).

Photo by Gage Skidmore

The Dirty Details:

Lutnick is another typical Republican billionaire who helped fundraise for Trump, and his work has paid off in his appointment to commerce secretary.

Of course, to say Lutnick is doing any of this out of the goodness of his heart is highly suspect: While his philanthropic endeavors post-9/11 have been fairly positive (although he gave up on missing employees of his company pretty early on, cutting off the paychecks just 4 days after the attacks), there is general suspicion that he's pushing away previous Trump staffers and advisors in order to get people more friendly to him and his personal financial goals.

He's also got some interest in the crypto industry, which could be (at least partially) why Trump has pivoted towards a more positive crypto "policy" (as much as Trump has any well-defined policy in general, at least).

Overall, Lutnick is seen as a loyalist to Trump, and as long as he maintains that loyalty his personal benefits thanks to his appointment should be glossed over by Trump himself.

One interesting aspect of Lutnick's strategy is that he's pushing against bringing anybody on who was tied to Project 2025; overall a good thing, but his motivations aren't completely clear.

A good summary of these controversies have been compiled by Politico.

Photo by Tim Green - Nothing Left Unsaid

The Dirty Details:

This is an interesting one. Overall, Scott Bessent is fairly qualified for the position, and has actually been somewhat contrarian to right-wing politics given he's an openly gay man (and married), has (positive) connections to George Soros, and fundraised for Al Gore previously (not to mention having donated to both Obama's and Hillary's campaigns).

The only reason - it would seem - that Trump picked him is because he donated a not-insignificant amount of money to both Trump's 2016 and 2023/2024 campaigns. ($1 million or more each).

He also served as an economic advisor to Trump's latest campaign, and did some heavy fundraising for him.

He's supportive of Trump's tariff strategy, however he has also stated they "were maximalist positions that would probably be watered down in talks with trading partners", essentially leading us to the idea that Trump is just being over the top so he can look more reasonable when he reduces them.

The Dirty Details:

So, this is someone who served with Trump previously in a smaller role, but much like the WWE, she was bound for bigger and more dramatic performances, it seems.

There's a lot to unpack here; Her involvement in the WWE is significant, including the scandals. She was directly involved within the steroid abuse scandals, and has also been named as a defendant in a sexual abuse lawsuit.

Interestingly enough, working for Trump was not her first foray into politics - nor education.

She served on the Connecticut Board of Education in Jan. 2009, but resigned on Apr. 1 2010. There was some controversy that led to this: She apparently had solicited campaign contributions herself (which she wasn't allowed to do), and apparently she had falsely claimed she received a BA in education (her degree was actually in French).

She also ran for senate, but never succeeded in winning; Initially she ran a fiscally conservative but socially moderate platform, and was pro-choice (although opposed partial-birth abortion and federal funding for abortions).

There has been talk within Trump's campaign of eliminating the Dept. of Education entirely, so we're not sure what exactly will happen with this appointment if that does occur.

The Dirty Details:

This one I just don't get at all.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer makes no sense as Trump's pick for labor secretary. Not one bit.

Why?

Trump has been pretty outspoken against unions; if not in literal words, but in actions, has has frequently praised anti-union action (famously loving Musk's "what union?" attitudes).

So, why did he appoint such a pro-union labor secretary?

I just can't fathom this one, but this is (so far) one appointment I'm actually relatively in favor of; A pro-union labor secretary is absolutely going to be critical in combating anti-worker, pro-corporate policies held by Trump.

The real question is this: Will she be the first one Trump fires for contradicting him? Because - unless she has no spine whatsoever - you know she's going to end up butting heads with him hard on his anti-union stance.

The Dirty Details:

Overall, Scott Turner is one of the few thankfully-boring appointments to Trump's cabinet.

His political career before his first stint inside Trump's first administration was serving in the Texas House for 2 consecutive terms, and.. Well, that's pretty much it.

..Except..

ProPublica has an interesting piece exemplifying how Scott Turner hates poor people (essentially).

He said government assistance is “one of the most destructive things for the family.”

That's.. Not good for the head of HUD.

He supported a bill ensuring landlords could refuse apartments to applicants because they received federal housing assistance while in the Texas House, which is damned-near frightening when you consider the power he'll wield in the new Trump administration.

It's as if he's going to be receiving a paycheck to be as ineffective as possible at his job.

The Dirty Details:

This one is another relatively boring appointment to Trump's cabinet.

Having served previously with Trump, Brooke Rollins brings nothing new and exciting to the world of Ag Secretary. After her first stint with Trump, she formed the America First Policy Institute, which sought to push Trump & MAGA-style policies as a right-wing (promoted as "right of center") thinktank. This included anti-LGBTQ policies, which thankfully the Dept. of Agriculture has little direct influence in, but other common right-wing policies are most certainly under her pervue.

The most critical responsibilities are tied to regulation on food safety regulation: With bird flu becoming a growing concern during the transition to Trump's second presidency, she is positioned to cause a great deal of harm to a large swath of America if existing regulations are removed regarding food safety, testing and more.

If she collaborates with RFK Jr. on policy here, this could spell a rather dark time in US agricultural safety standards.

Photo by Gage Skidmore

The Dirty Details:

Russell Vought is a dangerous individual in a rather prominent place within Trump's cabinet.

There's a lot of things that are concerning about him. One of the more critical aspects of his appointment is the fact that he is a prominent contributor to Project 2025.. Which includes plans to use military force against protesters in the US, defunding the EPA, and more. ProPublica has a deep dive into Vought's plans, and you should absolutely check it out.

Vought and the Project 2025 team have been preparing executive orders for Trump to implement right from the start, including laying the groundwork for invoking the Insurrection Act, which lets Trump use the military for law enforcement on US soil. A quote:

“We want to be able to shut down the riots and not have the legal community or the defense community come in and say, ‘That’s an inappropriate use of what you’re trying to do,’”

He also wants to do everything he can to strip down federal agencies - either by pushing civil servants (such as scientists and other field experts) to quit, or by implementing methods to allow them to fire large batches of employees. Another quote: 

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” he said. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can't do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so.

“We want to put them in trauma.”

Photo by dcwonkywonk

The Dirty Details:

Here's yet another traditional Republican appointment with traditional Republican policies.

While Zeldin's not quite to the level of supervillain in regards to the environment, he's no savior of it either. Like most conservatives, he's staunchly opposed to environmental regulations, and when you pair him with Russell Vought in the OMB, you've got a recipe for environmental disaster.

His actual records with environmental regulation are at least not the worst it could be: He has opposed dumping dredged materials in the Long Island Sound. He's also had some acceptable positions on fishing regulations, but there's always some give and take there.

In general, however, he's hitting all the Republican talking points: Pro-fracking, anti-Paris-Agreement, and the like.

Non-EPA related policies tend to stick to the traditional talking points as well: Anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+, tax cuts for the rich and less regulation overall.

The Dirty Details:

Elise Stefanik is an interesting one; initially more of a moderate Republican, she began a slide further to the right with Trump's run in 2016, and has left her moderate roots behind since.

Policy-wise, she's sticking with the traditional Republican talking points, but is further in the MAGA camp due to her adherence to 2020 election conspiracy theories, and worked to help Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Along with the conspiracy theories related to the election, she herself had said that Nacy Pelosi was responsible for the January 6th attacks, and that Pelosi was "aware of potential security threats to the Capitol and she failed to act".

Regarding her Pro-Israel stance, she's the one who (in)famously asked the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania whether "calling for the genocide of Jewish people" constituted bullying or harassment on their campuses, helping the narrative that if you're against the genocide in Gaza you must be antisemetic.

Interestingly enough, she's flip-flopped on some LGBTQ+ policies. She was originally one of 8 Republicans to vote for the Equality Act, although she later voted against it. She did, however, vote in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act (which codifies the right to same-sex marriage in federal law).

She's a member of the NY Young Republican Club; This organization has some suspicious connections, including to white nationalist groups.

The Dirty Details:

During his first tenure in intelligence, John Ratcliffe was a bit.. Sus. He had no previous experience or even interest in the Intelligence community, and there were concerns about his credentials and whether he was able to remain apolitical in the position.

So, it should come as no surprise that he's back again, and this time slated to be in charge of the CIA.. Because he has shown to be a Trump loyalist, having pushed against impeachment proceedings, called for prosecution of Trump's enemies, and in general pursued a Trump-friendly political agenda.

He's also the one who released disinformation regarding Hillary Clinton ans Russia, despite the validity of the intel being widely considered as false.

As far as his work with Project 2025, he's been pivotal in shaping intelligence policy as part of the Project 2025 plans. One focus for him has been holding China accountable for COVID-19, claiming China itself was negligent in it's response to the pandemic.

Overall, the chief concern with this appointment is further politicization of the intelligence community, including replacing staff with loyalists rather than people actually qualified for the positions.

The Dirty Details:

Tulsi Gabbard - formerly of the Democratic party, and having campaigned with Bernie Sanders - made a dramatic shift over to the right and has joined Trump and the MAGA crowd.

She's had a distinguished military career, served as a democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives for Hawaii's 2nd district, and also served as Vice Chair of the DNC.

And again.. She's now joining MAGA.. and has zero experience in the intelligence world.

Tulsi Gabbard's camplaints about the democratic party are pretty much par for the course: "cowardly wokeness, anti-white racism, (being) hostile to people of faith and spirituality, and dragging us closer to nuclear war" (source here).

Accusations of Tulsi being under Russian influence - or even outright being an agent of Russia - aren't fully vetted, but there have been a number of problematic actions by someone who's supposed to be above reproach in the intelligence community. Her constant sharing of RT articles (RT is a state-sponsored propaganda outlet for Russia) despite being very well informed of the fact that it isn't a legitimate news source alone is enough to disqualify her for the position, but apparently that's not a big deal to MAGA republicans.

The Dirty Details:

There's not a lot of info about Steve Witkoff, especially as it relates to his knowledge and experience with the Middle East.

He's been a friend to Trump, made his money in real estate, and apparently has financial ties in the Middle East (which could present a conflict of interest).

That's really it; A businessman who has a financial stake in Middle East developments and also has recently pushed into the crypto market is going to be the point person in the region, all because he's been a buddy to Trump for years.

That's about par for the course, however, so it shouldn't be surprising if - like Jared Kushner - he comes out ahead financially afterwards.

The Dirty Details:

Mike Huckabee is an old-hat in American politics, and his strong religious background makes him an almost stereotypical Republican in many ways.

That isn't to say he hasn't done some good: He's been an advocate for breaking down the racial divide in America, and has historically garnered a lot of support from the African American community.

What's interesting to note about his appointment as ambassador, is that Trump wanted him in that same position during his first presidency; Huckabee turned it down, however, saying he wasn't a good fit for the position.

Not much has been shown to have changed in regards to his experience, but this time around he accepted Trump's request to serve.

Regarding Israel, he's got some.. Unique perspective there, and his appointment is sure to please Israel itself, given his numerous pro-Israel statements, such as arguing that there is "no such thing as a Palestinian".

Also, we have this lovely statement:

"There is no such thing as a West Bank - it's Judea and Samaria. There's no such thing as a settlement. They're communities. They're neighborhoods. They're cities. There's no such thing as an occupation."

Photo by Gage Skidmore

The Dirty Details:

Keith Kellogg is an interesting choice for Trump's administration; Given Trump's push for unquestioning loyalty, the fact that he chose someone who essentially testified against him during the Jan 6 House Select Committee investigation is a pretty significant sign that he's not the kind of loyal Trump wants.

Kellogg himself has a fair amount of experience in national security, and is a fairly reasonable choice to help end the war in Ukraine.

His proposed plan involves getting Ukraine & Russia to the negotiation table with a cease-fire; If Russia refuses, the US will continue to supply Ukraine with aid. The big "gotcha" is that the negotiations hinge on Russia eventually leaving the territories it has seized, but it will remain in control of them for the time being until a timeline is established. As well, Ukraine will delay it's NATO membership during this time.

The odds of this happening on "Day 1", as Trump had proposed, would be pretty slim; Russia is still extremely active in the conflict, and has pulled in troops from allied nations to bolster the war effort.

The Dirty Details:

Whitaker is another interesting choice in the administration; he's most certainly a hard-right attack dog, and went full-throttle into Hillary's e-mails and more.

Trump is said to have become interested in Whitaker because of his positive takes about Trump when he was working for CNN.

What's weird is when he had appointed to Whitaker as temporary AG, Trump said repeatedly "I don't know Matt Whitaker". From the AP article:

"The comments from Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came as Whitaker’s past business ties and remarks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and other topics were drawing scrutiny from Democrats and ethics groups."

Apparently the issues that made Trump distance himself from Whitaker are no longer a factor, but his appointment as Ambassador to NATO may be a temporary one: Depending on Trump's whims, who knows if the US will even remain in NATO (which Trump has threatened to leave on multiple occasions).

The Dirty Details:

I absolutely am not shocked that an attorney so pro-Trump is from Missouri.

I myself am a Missouri native: I grew up smack in the middle of it in a tiny little town with only a couple stoplights.

Missouri is awash with folks ripe for the picking when it comes to right wing politics, fearmongering, and othering.

Anyway, Dean John Sauer is pretty basic, having had a fairly successful run as an attorney.. However he really came into the light with the presidential immunity case.

Sauer is the one who managed to convince the Supreme Court (which is not that hard, given the current right-wing slant) that a president can do just about anything they want as long as they can make a thinly-veiled argument that it's part of their official duties: The only way they can be held legally responsible is if they are successfully impeached in the Senate.

It's impressive, and frightening at the same time.

The Dirty Details:

Ah, here's another appointment from the Project 2025 basket.

Brendan Carr - who was already serving on the FCC - has some plans, for sure.

He's staunchly opposed to net neutrality, any form of "censorship" by big tech, and has even let his opinions be known that are outside the purview of the FCC (in his criticism of the WHO, as well as Adam Schiff, accusing him of overseeing a "secret and partisan surveillance machine").

He's also a fan of disinformation, it seems, as he called for the dismantling of Biden's "Disinformation Board", calling it "Orwellian" (all the board did in reality was advise Homeland Security on combatting disinformation).

In regards to his work for the Heritage Foundation, he authored the chapter on the FCC for Project 2025 (more info here).

The Dirty Details:

Absurdity knows no bounds, and appointing Mehmet Oz to a position of medical authority now is a rather extreme example of it.

While Dr. Oz was an accomplished surgeon, he eventually began to develop and express some rather extreme opinions on healthcare that go far against well documented, fact-based medicine. This came to a head in 2015 when a group of physicians demand Dr. Oz be removed from the faculty at Columbia University for his alleged "disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine".

Examples of this general disdain is easily found; he's spent a lot of time promoting various products and cures on his own show that have been proven to be - at best - ineffective, and at worst - dangerous. One of the most dangerous ideas he promoted was that Hydroxychloroquine cures COVID-19; This was handily debunked, but not before a run on the medication reduced it's availability to folks who relied on the medication to function (and, in some cases, even live). Additionally, side effects of this medication can be highly risky (and this is coming from someone who has taken it for his own health problems in the past).

He also advocated for re-opening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that "reopening schools in the United States might be worth the increased number of deaths it would cause". He later retracted this statement.

Beyond all this, he's also stuck to the primary Republican talking points throughout his (originally failed) political career, but before he got involved in politics he tended to lean more to the left on most issues (such as abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, affordable healthcare and more).

The Dirty Details:

Jamieson Greer is another one of the handful of "boring" appointments in Trump's administration.

Greer is a vet who worked in Trump's previous administration, has experience in trade law, and overall is pretty much a reasonable choice for the position given prior experience.

He's pushed for stronger trade ties with India & the UK, in order to reduce reliance on China in trade. His experience in regards to trade and China are extensive; He actually represented U.S. Steel in a lawsuit against China.

Not much has been said yet about his influence in Trump's proposed tariff policies, but one should expect that he is at the very least in lock-step with Trump on that agenda. We'll just have to wait and see what policies actually make it out the door in the new administration.

The Dirty Details:

In case you were wondering if being Secretary of the Navy requires any actual qualifications related to military experience, the answer is: No.

Assuming he gets confirmed (thankfully this is a position requiring confirmation), that is.

Seriously, all this guy seems to have going for him as far as qualifications go is he helped out on fundraising for Trump, hosting an interesting little party with some delightful guests.

I don't have much else I can write here about him; he's someone with more ties to investments than anything military-related, so we can only hope that he doesn't last very long (or at least brings on some extremely knowledgable staff).

Photo Source:  MSD Capital

The Dirty Details:

We have yet another COVID-denier in a critical position of health services in the government, and this one is a doozy.

He co-authored a (somewhat) famous proposal - the Great Barrington Declaration - which advocated for letting low-risk groups return to normal levels of interaction in order to build up herd immunity to COVID-19 (before a vaccine was developed). Of course, this proposal was widely panned, as herd immunity in this case doesn't quite work as was proposed, and the WHO itself said that it was "scientifically and ethically problematic" and "allowing a dangerous virus that we don’t fully understand to run free is simply unethical."

His COVID-19 response continued to get worse.

He spoke out in defense of mask bans in Florida & TN (yes, mask bans, not mandates), and was widely criticized, including by a TN judge who said his testimony as "troubling and problematic", said Bhattacharya had oversimplified conclusions of a study, and said he "offered opinions regarding the pediatric effects of masks on children, a discipline on which he admitted he was not qualified to speak" (source here).

There is a lot more we could cover, unfortunately, but these key highlights expose how dangerous of a choice he is for a critical position in Trump's administration.

Photo by Rod Searcey

The Dirty Details:

For a man who demands loyalty, Trump sure doesn't seem to mind appointing folks who stood against him as long as they give him lots and lots of money.

Warren Stephens has worked in opposition to Trump, especially during his first campaign; He provided a large amount of funding to the "Stop Trump" movement, which is not surprising for a classic old-school Republican.

Once Trump became the nominee this time, however, he ended up deciding to swallow his pride and put his money into MAGA Inc., a Trump-focused super PAC.

This must've been good enough for Trump, because this earned him the ambassador to the UK appointment.

Warren himself has no political experience outside of funding campaigns, which included Bob Dole in 1996.

We'll have to see how much he's willing to give in to Trump on policy given his previous opposition to him.

Photo source: Stephens, Inc.

The Dirty Details:

We don't have a lot of direct information available on Stephen Miran, but we do know that he has aligned himself with Trump's overall economic policies.

He has - in particular - supported Trump's tariffs, and despite his economic background believes that tariffs are a cost not paid by the US businesses, but instead the folks we're importing from (source here). Just as a clarification, tariffs are paid by the business or individual importing the goods, not the source of the import.

He served as an economic advisor for the Dept. of the Teasury from 2020 to 2021, so he's not an unfamiliar face in the Trump administration in general.

Photo source: Manhattan Institute

The Dirty Details:

Michael J.K. Kratsios is all about tech investment; He's probably the single strongest advocate (with any actual knowledge on the industry) for tech in Trump's cabinet.

He's also got the experience to match, having worked in various roles in tech in the first Trump administration, and has an impressive resume as well.

Some interesting things to note about him is that he was chief of staff to Peter Thiel (who is widely considered a dangerous authoritarian influence in right-wing politics), but he also was a strong supporter of diversity in tech. While he was with the DoD, he pushed for grants to historically minority colleges for research.

Overall, this appointment is relatively non-controversial; given the explosion of AI, his appointment makes sense in the new administration. His connections to Peter Thiel, however, also make him a bit of a black box as far as motivations go (much like Peter Thiel).

The Dirty Details:

Here we have a short-term Senator who's political career has been - by pretty much any metric - driven by hard-right ideology. Pro-choice, anti-LGBTQ, supported efforts to repeal the ACA, and so, so much more.

The irony is that she had donated (an admittedly small amount) to Hilary's 2008 presidential campaign.

She's had a lot of absurdity surrounding her public activity, but one of the more prominent aspects of this was when Trump & Melania caught COVID-19.

Loeffler was staunchly anti-mask, and actually blamed China directly for giving them the virus.

That's not the only COVID controversy she's tied to; there were actually suspicions of insider trading related to the economic crash that came with COVID-19.

Overall, she's a bit of a bright-red warning beacon among a sea of bright-red warning beacons.